Veg.itecture: New Additions

A visual tour of some of the latest in Vegetated Architecture. From the wonderful to the integrated to the sophmoric - the ideas are flowing and the concept is here to stay. A few recent projects:

In todays readings, from Archidose, the amazing pioneer of vertical greening, Patrick Blanc is at it again, creating a softly architectonic form for the CaixaForum Madrid in Madrid, Spain by Herzog & de Meuron (2008). Rusted steel panels and vertical green juxtaposed together. One word: stunning.


:: image via Archidose

A new hypergreen tower by Jacques Ferrier shows elevated pockets called 'vegetated sky lobbies' . Again this is one where representation versus realization is a question it provides a compelling building-landscape integration. So good it deserves two shots...




:: images via Green.MNP

A new project, Tuin house, by Reinier de Jong, provides a model of two-story homes are stacked into taller structures - creating vertical suburbs, aimed at providing the amenities of single-family dwellings in high-rise fashion to keep people in more densely populated areas... maybe in Vancouver. While the concept is laudable, the model, which has been floating around for a while, reminds of crappy balsawood models we did in the first year of design studio.


:: image via MoCo Loco

Finally, greening the big box. This prototype Wal-Mart store in Chicago, with gasp! a green roof. I know Wal-Mart is on a kick to 'green' up their image (forgetting the third leg of social equity now and again with its employees...) But, how the heck does Chicago get big-box stores to do this. Maybe something Portland can learn from?


:: image via Jetson Green

Reading List: A Pattern Language

Some books are classics. You read them, you reference them, you let them gather dust on the shelves until one day something jogs your memory and makes them vital again. This, along with other more obsessive reasons, is why I tend to collect design books with never any thought of letting them go. And design books tend to be heavy, sometimes in content, and often in heft.


:: image via Architecture.MNP

No book proves both of these points like Christopher Alexander's tome, 'A Pattern Language'. Written in 1977, this book elucidates a series of broad to specific patterns of development. The recent post by Architecture.MNP linked to a fantastic online version of the pattern language - which seems even more useful when framed in a hypertext format. Building on the strengths of the linking pattern heirarchy, this online tool allows you to access the pattern with paging through the book, even including illustrations. Each one is nested within a larger order of magnitude, and reduced to smaller constituent parts. For instance, Pattern #14: Identifiable Neighborhood, is connected from:

"... the Mosaic Of Subcultures (8) and the Community Of 7000 (12) are made up of neighborhoods. This pattern defines the neighborhoods."

These are further reduced to the parts that:

"...mark the neighborhood, above all, by gateways wherever main paths enter it - Main Gateways (53) - and by modest boundaries of non-residential land between the neighborhoods - Neighborhood Boundary (15). Keep major roads within these boundaries - Parallel Roads (23); give the neighborhood a visible center, perhaps a common or a green - Accessible Green (60)‹or a Small Public Square (61); and arrange houses and workshops within the neighborhood in clusters of about a dozen at a time - House Cluster (37), Work Community (41).... "

The online version allows for simple jumping from point to point, and back, which is a true mark of the successful pattern - context and detail. The site includes illustrations from the book, such as this visual discription of Pattern #4: Agricultural Valleys:


:: image via A Pattern Language

The language is timeless, although the vocabulary may be in need of updating. For instance, usage of the term 'green street' has evolved, and the concept remains, but as seen in Pattern #51 - Green Streets, the definition differs somewhat from our current use:

"There is too much hot hard asphalt in the world. A local road, which only gives access to buildings, needs a few stones for the wheels of the cars; nothing more. Most of it can still be green."


:: image via A Pattern Language

While the original pattern still has merit, the idea of pattern languages is an interesting point-of-departure for any type of analytical undertaking. An example, somewhat dated as well, takes the idea to separate application of the principle, Ecotrust developed their Conservation Economy Pattern Language, the goal to provide a framework for an "...ecologically restorative, socially just, and reliably prosperous society."

More recent, Alexander's new series is a four-volume set entitled The Nature of Order, investigating a broad world-view of architecture in four parts: The Phenomenon of Life, The Process of Creating Life, A Vision of a Living World, and The Luminous Ground. I have yet to check this out, other than a cursory glance at the bookstore, but i imagine they involve some density - and patience to get through, but alas, something as light as understanding the Nature of Order should require a bit of heavy thinking.

Revisit: Olympic Sculpture Park

In light of the recent AIA Honor Award for 2008, some revisit of the fantastic Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. Designed by internationally renown firm Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism along with local Seattle Landscape Architect Charles Anderson.

The main theme of the project is a folded Z-shaped pedestrian spine that traverses a significant grade change between the upper portion of the park/urban interface and the lower portion of the park/waterfront interface - also spanning the riverfront roadway below - connecting the park seamlessly from Elliot Bay to adjacent Belltown. This is shown below in a simplistic 'model' of interlocking planes:


:: image via Weiss/Manfredi

This theme provides interesting details, as well as a design parti that permeates both the site, landscape detailing, as well as the architectural forms. The buildings are appropriately designed, but in true Landscape Urbanism fashion, take their forms from the surrounding landscape fabric, not dominating or directing landscape spaces.


:: images via Weiss/Manfredi

I had the chance to visit the park about a year after it was completed, and the following photographs are from this trip. I took note of the specific landscape/built-form interactions, and some of the detailing that bridges and smooths these transitions. (all following photos by author)


:: Waterfront Pathway


:: Wall detailing

The clash of sharp angles provides some dynamism, as well as some particularly difficult details. The following photos illuminate the successes, particularly my favorite space in the park, the slightly offset angular convergence of sloped concrete walls above the roadway.


:: Roadway convergence


:: sloping pathways and spatial merging

As has been mentioned elsewhere, the parks success is less about the art it contains and more about it's contribution to the urban fabric. Thus the art-container transcends the art. In contrast with say, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where the grounds provide a simple field for art placement, here the dynamic space often overshadows some of the lesser art pieces. While the collections will ultimately evolve, this follows other precedents in architecture where the museum becomes better known as a piece of architectural art, rather than as a functional space.

There are a few art-elements of note, in addition to the photogenic and iconic red form of the 'Eagle' by Alexander Calder. The first is shown below, not a consistent favority, but one i liked, is a sun-shade and canopy aptly titled 'Seattle Cloud Cover' by artist Teresita Fernandez, which plays with abstract colors and textures, as a piece in itself, as well as throwing interesting patterns on the ground plane:


:: Seattle Cloud Cover - by artist Teresita Fernandez

A consistent favorite is 'Wake' by Richard Serra, consisting of multiple forms of rusted steel forms evocative of ships and waterforms, tying the installation into the local context. Built as an interactive piece, it evolves based on the viewers point-of-view, although exists with a 'no-touching' policy which is strictly enforced, leaving some of this interactivity unrealized.


:: Wake - by Richard Serra

While primarily an urban park, there are some special moves that allow for pockets of refuge and immersion in nature along the pathways. The Grove, which naturally zig-zags up a hillside triangle, offers a dense planting of aspens along with site-specific artworks spaces along the pathway. This is a counterpoint to the dynamic rigidity to the adjacent areas.


:: a view of the grove - immersion in urban nature

The overal zig-zag concept makes for some stunning detailing, but allows for some difficult spots, particularly where there is a convergence of very sharp acute angles, which either create clunky merging of materials and lines, or allow for pedestrian crossing that degrades vegetation. The uppermost photo shows the difficult merging - and the lower shows the temporary fencing to avoid cross-cutting at waterfront level until vegetation is established.




:: Tapered crossing zones with depleted vegetation

In spite of these minor issues, the OSP is impressive - even more so in person than in the photos here or elsewhere. The combination of setting and strong design concept is powerful and seems to fit the Seattle aesthetic well. The softening of spaces that provide some counterpoint to the overall plan are successful, including adjacent fields of native groundcovers and other low-maintenance materials. The wall and pathway detailing, with a few exceptions, is impeccable, using relatively simple forms but making them vibrant by using them in subtle ways.

For additional information, here is a link to some interactive media about the OSP. Definitely check out the park flora link, as well as the construction slideshows showing in-process photos of various design elements.